1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a slide switch, and more particularly relates to a slide switch in which an electrified state such as resistance value varies in accordance that an operating member is manually operated.
It is to be noted that, for those designated countries which permit the incorporation by reference, the contents described and/or illustrated in the documents relevant to Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-11675 filed on Jan. 22, 2008 will be incorporated herein by reference, as a part of the description and/or drawings of the present application.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 26, known in the art is a slide switch 111 configured such that an operating member 113 is rectilinearly operated along the horizontal direction in FIG. 26, while a moving member 115 cooperating with the operating member 113 and a brush constructing member 117 integrally provided with the moving member 115 also rectilinearly move, thereby varying a resistance value and the like (Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application publication No. H8 (1996)-115637).
Because electronic devices such as video cameras in which the slide switch 111 is to be used are progressed to being reduced more and more in sizes, it is required to minimize the dimensions of the slide switch 111 as much as possible. To this end, it may be conceivable to reduce the longitudinal dimension of the slide switch 111 i.e. the size along the horizontal direction in FIG. 26. However, if the longitudinal dimension is reduced, then the stroke of the operating member 113 is also to be reduced thereby deteriorating the handling feelings.
In such circumstances, as shown in FIG. 27 and FIG. 28, there is proposed a slide switch 151 configured such that an operating member 153 is moved circular arcuately relative to a base material 115 along the arrow shown in FIG. 27 thereby preventing the reduction in stroke of the operating member 153 (Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-236784). In this slide switch 151, a brush constructing member 157 provided with the operating member 153 is also moved circular arcuately.
According to the slide switch 151 disclosed in the above Patent Document 2, however, the wiring pattern (pattern configured of resistive element) 159 is required to be provided circular arcuately as shown in FIG. 27. Accordingly, there are problems including that the height dimension H10 of the slide switch 151 becomes large compared to that of the slide switch 111 shown in FIG. 26.
The problem to be solved by the present invention or the object is to provide a slide switch which allows the height thereof to be reduced compared with that of the prior art without increasing the size of the operating member in the sliding direction thereof.